I’m thinking of buying an RC helicopter to build with my 6 year old son.

Hopefully I’ll get him doing most of the building, any advice on whats good?

Prefer the cheaper end of the market as I envisage it being in a tree or crashing into the ground within 5 mins of him taking control.

FOr a 6 year old you want to be getting a ready built one, rather than a kit. Otherwise you’ll find yourself rekitting it quite soon. If you want to build a kit I recommend anything other than a helicopter – even a plane is more likely to survive for longer.

I’m pretty sure the only kit RC heli’s are the really difficult to fly 5+ channel ones that are a lot more complex than the 14.99 gryocopter type helis. Theres loads of different interacting linkages that need to be setup, gyroscope and servos programmed to the remote – they are complicated for an adult, nevermind a child!

If its a simple gyrocopter, then building it would be pretty trivial.

agree with the above advice – start with something other than a heli if its being built from bits for a 6 year old

I bought my 7 year old his 3rd helicopter in a row for Christmas this year. The first 2 were very hard to control in door and didn’t see Boxing Day. This time he got a Syma s107 and it is very easy to fly. His 5 year old sister can fly it round the living room and land it on his hand. £25 ish I seem to remember

Agree with aracer…

From those I’ve spoken to that have flown both, RC helicopters are even more difficult to control than the real thing! Their size means they get blown about very easily by the slightest breeze, and because you don’t have any kind of feedback other than visual, they’re almost impossible to keep on the straight and narrow so to speak.

I’d recommend building a 2 channel glider, or even a fairly basic RC car given his age. You will both have plenty of fun with the finished result too, and both are much cheaper to fix than a helicopter when they’re crashed.